1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a minidisc player and more particularly, to a minidisc player of a top loading type having a disc cartridge shutter actuating mechanism with a simple structure to actuate a shutter of a cartridge responsive to the opening and closing operations of a housing cover thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
In general, minidiscs accommodated in cartridges are a disc-shaped recording medium which is a little smaller than a compact disc, e.g., magnetic or optical one. A minidisc player loads this cartridge, so that this player can reproduce information recorded on the minidisc accommodated therein. Such cartridge has a window for allowing the recording medium accommodated therein to make contact with a head of the minidisc player and also a shutter to open and close the window.
When the minidisc cartridge is inserted into the player for operation, the shutter is opened to expose the window in order that the minidisc accommodated therein makes contact with the head of the minidisc player. On the contrary, when the minidisc cartridge is ejected out of the player, the shutter provided on the disc cartridge is closed thereby to close the window.
The minidisc player of a top loading type is so constructed that a housing cover thereof is opened and closed upward and downward at a predetermined angle against a housing thereof and the minidisc can be mounted downward on a turntable provided on a base plate placed within the housing.
In this conventional player, a disc tray should be provided on the player in order to open the shutter of the disc cartridge when the disc cartridge is mounted on the turntable. Thus, a loading mechanism of the minidisc player is very complicatedly constructed and further bulky in size, so that it is difficult to provide a minidisc player with small and compact construction. Also, some inconvenience for an operation of mounting the minidisc thereon may be caused due to small opening angle of a housing cover.
A mechanism for actuating the cartridge shutter receiving the minidisc is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,930 (issued to Keiji Uehara) for which an operation will be described in the following.
When loading the disc cartridge on the disc player, a shutter depression is engaged with a pin of an actuation arm constituting a loading mechanism of the disc player. With this engagement, the disc cartridge continues to proceed to the turntable, so that the shutter of the cartridge is opened. On the contrary, this cartridge is ejected out of the turntable, so that the shutter is closed. However, the actuation arm has to have a predetermined length and be moved at a certain angle, so that a little more space may be required within the disc player. Thus, it is difficult to provide a minidisc player with small and compact construction.